REV. AL Sharpton got something right Saturday. It deserves to be shouted from the rooftops because it deals with a universal problem: A coarsening in public behavior.

Rev. Sharpton delivered the keynote speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial, where thousands gathered to mark the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” address.

Like other speakers, including Atlanta Congressman John Lewis, Rev. Sharpton talked about civil rights pioneers and the sacrifices they made to make America a better country.

But unlike the others, he took direct aim at segments of pop culture that are dragging the nation and society down. What he said applies to all audiences:

“We owe a debt to those who thought enough of you to put their lives on the line,” Rev. Sharpton said. “We owe a debt to those that believed in us when we did not believe in ourselves. And we need to conduct ourselves in a way that respects that.

“Don’t you ever think that men like Medgar Evers died to give you the right to be a hoodlum, or to give you the right to be a thug. That is not what they gave their life about.”

“We need to talk about how we address one another, how we respect one another. We need to teach our young folk, I don’t care how much money they give you, don’t disrespect your women. No matter what they promise you, make it clear that you know that Rosa Parks wasn’t no ho and Fanny Lou Hamer wasn’t no [filtered word],” he said.

Rev. Sharpton is a loud mouth and an opportunist most of the time. But at this particular opportunity and time, he rates an “amen” and a hallelujah.”

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So, who wrote these words? Are you sure he did? All this time he's been blaming the white man for the problems. He needs to tell his people to get off welfare, get a job & quit sucking the taxpayer dry!!

there has to be a profit in that speech for him in some way. But, you notice he stopped short of telling them to quit making the welfare babies, get a job, to teach their young. Nope, there just has to be a money angle in what he did say.

Contrary to the prevailing mindset on these forums, keynote speakers such as Reverend Al Sharpton don't need "ghost-writers" to pen their speeches. The white man needs to tell his people to get off of welfare. Tell those farmers who get subsidies ( another term for welfare) to get back to farming. Those in the corporate world, who get welfare, let them give theirs back. They too suck the taxpayer dry, yet what2du never says a mumbling word about it.

I noticed that RoyJ01 is mute about the jobs that got outsourced overseas courtesy of these companies which desire cheap labor and no unions to contend with. Dang if they do and dang if they don't. If the parents get beat up on because they are not involved in the lives of their children having to work 2 and 3 jobs paying barely minimum wages with no benefits, then they are considered misfits. When they stay at home to tend to the children until those children can be responsible for themselves, they're milking the system. RoyJ01, you can't have it both ways and those "welfare babies" as you put it are going to grow and have to care for you and your ilk in the nursing homes after your kin folk done parked you there and run off with your money.

Hollow grounds of the Lincoln Memorial indeed, there have been any reports of these grounds being blessed with holy water. Some have a warped sense of what they worship.

it must be terrible being you. Not to worry, none of those welfare babies will have to take care of me, Agent Orange is fast at work and I won't be around that long. Thank God, as I would starve to death if I had to depend on the welfare babies and the likes of you.

Always looking the other when what2du and RoyJ01 spew out their "racist comments." Oh wait a minute, that's right Domagoj is like Schultz from Hogan's Heroes, " I see nothing, I hear nothing, I know nothing." Possibly Domagoj, what2du and RoyJ01 could be in the same gang, I mean the same klan.

Mr. Stephens, it is a known fact that you are a mental midget. You have proved it via this forum more than once. It is not my fault that you cut class when your teacher was trying to teach you vocabulary words. No one to blame but yourself.